Offensive explosion boosts Comets to fourth straight win
Even though he was wearing a mask, it was evident that Kansas City Comets coach Leo Gibson was smiling following Sunday’s dominating 13-4 victory over the Dallas Sidekicks.
The Comets enjoyed their biggest offensive performance of the season as Adam James, Rian Marques, Mike DaSilva and Matt Lewis scored two goals each to back the goaltending efforts of Lou Misner and Mark Saxby.
Nicolau Neto, who had started in goal every game this season for the Comets, was given the afternoon off, although he was encouraging his teammates from the bench dressed in a suit and tie.
“This is the kind of performance we have been waiting for all season,” said Gibson, whose team improved to 5-4 with its fourth straight victory. “I’m so excited about the play of everyone.”
When asked about Marques, who also had a hat trick in Friday’s 10-6 win over the Sidekicks, Gibson’s smile grew wider.
“The kid just keeps delivering,” the player/coach said of Marques, who also added an assist. “I don’t believe he even knows how good he can be. He is a special player.”
Gibson, John Sosa, Kevin Ellis, Lucas Sousa and Ramone Palmer each added one goal, while Ellis, Palmer and Sosa also had one assist each.
Gibson’s goal tied it 1-1 with 56 seconds left in the first quarter. Just 34 seconds later, Lewis scored a shorthanded goal for the lead, one the Comets wouldn’t relinquish. James then took a pass from Ellis and scored the first goal of the second period at the 1:43 mark. Sosa made it 4-1 just 26 seconds after that on a pass from Marques.
The Mavericks scored goals in the opening two minutes of the second, third and fourth quarters.
“We got off to a tough start and there was no excuse for that,” Marques said of the Comets blowing three-goal leads late in the game in their first three losses. “But now, we are playing our best soccer in front of the best fans in the MASL.”
Ellis scored an unassisted goal at the 4:26 mark of the second quarter for a 5-2 halftime lead.
Marques scored both of his goals in the second half as the Comets turned it into a rout.
Misner allowed three goals in three quarters and Saxby allowed a sixth-attacker goal in fourth quarter,
He made an incredible running, jumping, diving save as he was near midfield when the Sidekicks took a high, arching shot on goal. Somehow, Saxby ran to the net and stopped the ball inches from the baseline.
“I work hard to be ready to go in whenever Coach needs me,” said Saxby, who got a high-five from Gibson after the save. “I’m here to do whatever this team needs me to do.”
Felipe De Sousa scored a hat trick for Dallas.